When the expensively-printed brochure arrived in the mail asking for three votes in November to approve more sales taxes, we raised an eyebrow at the slick messaging.

The other brow went up quickly thereafter when Charleston County unveiled a fancy new Internet dashboard touting the importance of voters extending local option sales taxes for a generation at a cost of almost $6 billion in total.

Wow. Somebody wants to keep their fingers in our pockets for a long time. And guess who will pay? Yep, the people who have less because sales taxes are regressive. The very nature of sales taxes puts more of a burden on people who earn less, forcing them to pay a higher percentage of their incomes for taxes compared to those better off.

But what if the majority of people in the county vote no? We’d all save money. In fact, the average household will save from $375 to $675 each year — up to $16,875 over 25 years — based on average taxable spending. Boy, wouldn’t that put some extra groceries on tables in tough economic times!

In November, Charleston County wants you to do three things:

  1. Vote yes to extending a half-penny sales tax for transportation. If approved, the county would generate $4.25 billion over 25 years and put $2.7 billion to roads, $858 million to public transportation and $690 million to conservation.
  2. Vote yes to continue a penny in a local option sales tax for schools to generate $1.25 billion to pay for new schools and repairing older ones.
  3. Vote yes to allow the county to use the $4.25 billion from the half penny to borrow and increase debt so it can finish roads and other projects more quickly.

But guess what you’re not being told:

  • Borrowing costs. If the county uses bonds to generate early cash to get road projects moving, it will pay around $284 million in borrowing costs — which doesn’t build a single road. That’s more than 10% in wasted tax money, some would argue.
  • Grocery tax. By saying yes, Charleston will continue to keep its local sales tax on groceries — something that some counties exempt.
  • Water bills. Charleston Water System officials have said local water bills could go up 9% to 21% to pay for costs of moving water and sewer lines for roads. That’s extra money out of your pockets.

So when you’re considering how to vote on letting the county and school district have more money, you might want to be skeptical and ask whether it’s better for you to use money that you need to counteract high food bills, gas bills and other rising costs. Or if you should trust the county to do what it says it’s going to do.

For now, we’re thinking it’s probably a better idea to vote no and have county officials come back when they’re a little clearer about exactly what and where it is going to build along with realistic estimates of real costs. County officials also might want to consider a more comprehensive strategic transportation plan that accounts for where funding would come from if our roads need to be replaced or repaired from rising waters that may cause more flooding and road damage.

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